2015 Kia Soul EV Electric Vehicle

The 2015 Kia Soul EV is a four-door hatchback and it’s available in two trim levels: Base and Plus.

Exterior

The 2015 Kia Soul Electric Vehicle has a bold, distinct exterior design – blue-accented fog lights, the Eco Electric badge, the front and rear styling. Since it’s an EV, it has no exhaust pipe and no grille. The rear bumper has received a new sleek look, and the lower fascia is made stronger and sportier.

As for the “green” part, the Soul has Auto Light Control, automatically turning the headlights on/off in order to save energy.

The vehicle is available in a monochromatic or a two-tone design, and in 4 different color choices – Clear White body with Satin Metal grille border, Caribbean Blue body with a Clear White top, Titanium Grey body with Satin Metal grille border, and Shadow Black with Inferno red top and accents.

Interior

The trunk retains its 18.8 ft3 of cargo space, with an option of expanding to 49.5 ft3 with the 60/40-split rear seatbacks folded. Due to the battery being placed under the rear passenger part, legroom and headroom are reduced in comparison to the previous model, not significantly though.

Engine and performance

The vehicle somes in two driving modes – Drive and Brake, with Brake having more aggressive regenerative braking. A separate, Eco mode, promotes energy conservation even more.

EPA efficiency estimates fixes the vehicle’s range at 93 miles. They also claim that the Soul Electric will use 32 kWh of electricity per 100 miles. In Edmunds testing, the Soul travelled 121.5 miles on a charge.

All Soul Electrics come with a 6.6 kW onboard charger and the dual grille-mounted ports. With a 240-volt AC power, it takes 5h to fully charge it (strarting from empty).

With the top speed of 90 mph, the Soul Electric developed acceleration 0-60 mph in 9.5 seconds in Edmunds testing.

Price and release date

The 2015 Kia Soul Electric Vehicle was released last year and was initially only available in California. The price starts at $26,000 ($33,700 MSRP – $7,500 federal tax credit).